Courses & Talks

The Writerspace offers a variety of courses and talks to suit all ages and abilities.  From introducing creative writing to developing literary fiction, each course is tailored to your individual group's requirements.  Courses can be a couple of hours, a couple of days, or even weekly for a fixed period (usually five weeks).  If you have a particular area of writing you would like to know more about, get in touch and we'll do our best to create the right course for you.

Xanthe is happy to visit schools, Writers Groups and clubs as a speaker and/or tutor for groups of all sizes.  Her recent work on success and motivation has generated a new branch to The Writerspace and she looks forward to working more in this area, particularly inspiring teenagers to fulfil their potential.

Example Courses & Talks

UP 2U: Success, what it means and how to get it - from the inside out*

People have been looking for the answers to these questions for hundreds of years, determined that there is some 'secret formula' to achieving success.  You may have seen books like The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, which talk about just that.  The truth is, there is no secret.  The ability to achieve what you want in life is open to all of us.  All you need is to know a few simple steps and the rest is up to you.
Inspiring Writing

Inspiration is the key to a writer's success.  But where do you find it?  And once you've found it, what do you do with it?  This course will look at the many ways in which a writer can find inspiration, as well as providing the opportunity to develop your own ideas into complete pieces of writing.  Each week we will focus on a new theme to inspire our writing, such as 'memories' or 'small things'.  Equally suitable for prolific or aspiring writers, this course will leave you with a toolkit of inspiration tips to keep your writing going into the long summer nights and beyond.  All you need to bring is the perspiration!


Get Write In! - Creative writing for teenagers

Watching television and playing computer games can be great fun, but do you ever wish that you could control what was going to happen next?  Do you ever get fed up of the guy winning the girl, the aliens getting blasted back to outer space, or the vampires getting revenge?  If you want to take charge of things, then come along and learn how to put your ideas into writing.  We'll look at powerful openings, great characters, exciting climaxes and fantastic conclusions.  WARNING: This course will not make you the next J.K. Rowling, Anthony Horowitz or Stephanie Meyer: it will make you the original YOU.  Your story.  Your writing.  Your way.


Ways of Seeing: Finding your writing style

'Creativity doesn't mean just making things up out of thin air.  It means seeing and feeling the world so vividly that you can help put together connections and patterns that help to explain reality.'
This workshop will open your eyes to new ways of seeing and new ways of writing.  Using a variety of exercises, we will explore writing from different angles and alternative perspectives so that we can put together original, creative ways to explain reality.  We will consider the writing of existing authors and, more importantly, we will share our new discoveries with each other.  Suitable for writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry; all you need to bring is pen, paper and enthusiasm.
Creating Images through Words

Napoleon was quoted as saying, 'A picture paints a thousand words'.  This workshop turns the well-known statement on its head, as we explore the potential of words to paint a thousand pictures.  Using literary fiction as our guide, we shake off our inhibitions and delve into the infinite potential of our mind's word-playground.  Whether you're a poet, prose writer or are new to writing, this workshop will allow you to reach out to the furthermost edges of your imagination.


Enjoying Writing Literary Fiction

Admitting you write literary fiction is like saying you are a naturist - there is no legal reason why you shouldn't do it, but nobody really understands why you do!  The aim of this course is to open the doors of literary fiction and allow you the time to play with/explore this often marginalised strand of writing.  After looking at some classic examples of how to write (or how we would rather not write), we will branch into our own writing, using a range of exercises and techniques to fire up the imagination.  With an emphasis on support and feedback, the course's hands-on approach will encourage you to gain confidence and enjoyment from the textual richness of individual words and their meanings.  If you want to have a break from plot-driven narrative, then why not take some time out in the playground of literary fiction?